Dear Melody,
I am pleased you found my post to be useful - I honestly had no intention of writing all that, but sometimes I just can't stop
But only is something needs to be said.
I really believe that the vast majority of PC users have no idea what is out there.
In addition to my local filters, I have a whole server that does nothing at all except process email for my family, cooper.net domain. That server literally does nothing else at all, and of course the overwhelming majority of main is directed to my address.
My server based defences use almost the entire power of that one server to process mail that one email address. When you consider that many servers host thousands of email accounts with power to spare, that will give you some idea of what is sent to my email address. The overwhelming majority is spam. The server probably blocks up to 10,000 spam messages per day directed at my one email address.
Another 500 to 1000 spam messages make it to my PC - usually because they have been put together in such a way that even my Bayesian algorithms doesn't see them as spam. Bayesian algorithms have a powerful set of rules that already block mail, but it is also artificial intelligence of sorts that learns as spam arrives, and creates filtering rules dynamically to stop more and more spam, and also to identify changes in spam structure.
Of the spam that does make it to my PC my mail filtering usually deletes about 90% so in the course of the day I might actually have to see about 100 spams. I just see them as spam without even opening them and just delete them.
My server also filters messages with viruses, and I almost never see anything that could contaminate my PC - I know what they look like anyway, so I just zap them. Very few attachments make it through with some unavoidable exceptions, but they are the ones that claim to be purchase receipts, UPS tracking numbers, e-greetings cards and so on, so I just have a good laugh at how inept they are and zap them as well.
The reason I get so many messages - as well as the hundreds per day of real ones - is because my email address was created nearly 13 years ago, and is on just about every spamming list in the world, several times over.
In addition, in the early days of the Internet, I was a notorious "spam site buster" and tracked down and had exterminated many spam sites . So there are plenty of people out there who still remember, and don't like me very much
Some of the anti-spam defences widely used today had my direct input in to them back then.
But as you can see - as well as my services that everyone sees, newsletters, websites, forums etc, and the private messages I answer, behind the scenes, is a very advanced "engine" that needs to be maintained just to keep everything running smoothly.
On the cookies - cookies in and of themselves are generally useful, because they save you time when you return. For example, if you arrive at these very forums and do not need to login, it is because the forums have placed a cookie in your cookie folder that contains your encrypted login details. Most websites use cookies for various reasons are are legitimate.
Tracking cookies though can actually track your web browsing activities, and there is no justification for that, which is why A Squared flags them as potential trojans.
The trojans in the zip files were probably from email attachments or free or trial software.
Which leads me to mention another major attack direction that I did not mention before.
Many, many free software and utilities that can be downloaded contain one or more trojans. As I think I mentioned - Limewire was notorious, although that can be considered as karma
All of those fancy emoticons that talk to you when you land on a website are deadly - leave well alone. Most free screen savers - like the ones with those nice fish tank scenes will tank your PC sooner or later
The reason so much software is free is because the creators of trojans pay the software makers to include the trojans in the install program so they get installed when you install the utility or free software. This is what pays for the "free" software.
My advice there is if you see some free software you fancy proceed as follows:
1. See if it has a paid "upgrade" to a professional version etc. They are almost always safe, because the objective there is to impress people so much with the free product, they will upgrade to the "full" version.
The most famous example of this is WinZip. Incredibly useful and not even restricted as a trial version, but I always pay for the full version, because for the sake of $39 or whatever, it is worth many times that.
2. If there is no such update then run a Google check by entering the: product name virus trojan. Replace the product name with the actual product name, but then a space and word virus then space and word trojan. If the product is unsafe, and known malware, then plenty of people will have been hit by it before and said so in forums, blogs etc. Google is your friend - use it.
3. If you still end up downloading the software, before you install it, load A-Squared, download the latest signature file, and run it. You can probably check that one file.
Never assume anything or be in too much of a hurry to download something that looks too good to be true - because it will be.
As for the files quarantined by A-Squared - just delete them all immediately. It won't affect your PC and no point keeping them.
Trojans don't slow modern PC's down that much because the PC has so much power. If there are enough trojans on your PC to slow it down or uses much bandwidth - you are in big, big trouble.
I set-up the initial Internet infrastructure for our local telecommunications company. I keep seeing all sorts of anomalies and slow downs across their network, so I ring them to find out what is happening, and it turns out that there are so many trojans and viruses installed on PC's connected to the broadband network, 50% of the bandwidth - and we are talking hundreds of megabits per second, is being used by trojans and viruses installed on PC's and the PC owners have no idea.
One of my son's friends brought a laptop along that was running slowly and erratically, and when he switched it on I could not believe what I actually saw installed, never mind what was running in the background.
He had about five "toolbars" installed for a start which took up about half the browser screen - he said when they "appeared" he thought it was someone being helpful
Almost all "toolbars" that appear except for Google and Yahoo are seriously dangerous trojans.
At the final analysis it is all about common sense and asking yourself if something looks plausible.
In any case, make sure Windows Defender is activated, make sure Windows Automatic Update is activated, make sure that when it says their are new updates ready to be installed you install them before doing anything else, and make sure you run E-Squared every day after downloading the latest signature file, and always after downloading any file you are not certain about.
Those simple things alone will keep you out of the vast majority of trouble.
It is a dangerous 'net out there.
In Love and Light,
Adrian.
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